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layers in the country’s oil and gas industry will gather this week with key government officials and other stakeholders at the 40th Indonesia Petroleum Association Convention and Exhibition (IPA Convex) in an attempt to seek and endorse necessary measures and policies to help the industry survive the plunge in global energy prices.

IPA executive director Marjolijn Wajong said the association would use the event, which will run from Wednesday to Friday, to voice fresh concerns of industry players amid a prolonged spell of low oil and gas prices as well as economic slowdown, which have resulted in mass layoffs and halted expansions.

Marjolijn also called on the government to streamline its bureaucracy to provide business certainty and improve the country’s competitiveness in the sector.

“Without certainty, investors will think twice before investing in Indonesia,” Marjolijn said during a visit to The Jakarta Post’s office on Tuesday.

Earlier in March, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo selected an onshore liquefaction (OLNG) concept to develop the Masela project, which sits on almost 11 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in the Arafura Sea, making it the country’s largest deepwater gas project.

His decision, however, has sparked concern among existing and potential investors as it overruled the recommendations of the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas), his energy and mineral resources minister and the oil and gas contractors, Inpex-Shell, which all chose a floating LNG (FLNG) concept.

Similarly, IPA Convex committee chairman Marudut Manullang said that it aimed to send a strong message to the government to shift its paradigm in managing the energy sector by, among other things, providing more incentives and business-friendly policies.

“The government must understand that the old ways are no longer attractive. Evidently, none of our auctioned blocks were taken last year,” Marudut said.

Nine oil and gas blocks were up for tender in 2015, but none gained a winning bidder. Marudut, who is also human resources and general affairs vice president at Ophir Energy, said the long process from exploration to production compared to other countries was unattractive to investors.

For the last two years, global oil prices have been in free fall from around US$110 per barrel of Brent crude in June 2014 to around $40, as of recently.

Separately, GE Oil and Gas Indonesia president director Iwan Chandra said under the current situation, industry players must improve efficiency by, among other things, adjusting operational costs and maintaining equipment reliability.

During the IPA Convex, GE, for example, will introduce a cloud-based operating system to help production operators optimize production and lower costs, he said. (win)